


A Little Gossip Goes a Long Way (the Only Good Things Remix)

by donutsweeper



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Assumptions, Gen, Gossip, Neighbors, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-17 04:16:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11843766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/pseuds/donutsweeper
Summary: Everyone in the building had noticed that Steve Rogers seemed happier ever since his new roommate moved in.  A lot happier, actually.





	A Little Gossip Goes a Long Way (the Only Good Things Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Only Good Things](https://archiveofourown.org/works/501757) by [Jain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain). 



> Thanks to mlraven for the beta!

To Betty's extreme and ultimate shame, it was Harold from 3c who first suggested that Steve in 2b and the young man who had moved with him were anything more than just friends. _Harold_. From 3c. Not Miriam or Doris or Pearl or even Pearl's Harold, who always pretended to be above gossiping when they were all over for tea and a game of pinochle but actually listened so intently he'd sometimes let his cards flop down so everyone at the table could see them. No, it was that old curmudgeon from 3c who refused to participate in the building's annual toys for tots drive and dumped his junk mail on the flood because it was easier than taking two whole steps to the left to put it in the recycle bin.

She remembered the day Harold that mentioned it to her clearly. The weather had been awful that entire week but on the day in question it had just started to rain, catching Betty unawares. She had been standing right outside the building, digging around in her pocketbook for her key while attempting not to open it too far and risk everything getting wet when suddenly Steve was there, holding the door for her, offering her a smile as he said, "Let me get that for you, Mrs. Moretti."

"Thank you, Steve. Such a gentleman. But I think I asked you to call me, Betty, didn't I?" she chided gently, patting him on the arm as she walk past him into the lobby. In response, Steve grinned that sheepish grin of his; the same one he wore every time she reminded to call her by her first name that she knew meant he would do nothing of the sort. His mama had raised him right she supposed, he respected his elders and there wasn't anything she could do about it. "Do you have time to come up for some cake?" Betty asked instead of pressing the issue. "I baked it this morning."

"I'd love to, but I can't. I'm already late. James and I got to talking earlier and I'm afraid I lost track of time." 

"Oh, then you better run along then! Are you sure you don't want to take an umbrella though? It's really coming down out there."

"No need, I won't melt. Bye, Mrs. Moretti. Mr. Michaels." Steve turned his collar up against the rain, shut the door firmly behind himself and headed on his way at a brisk jog.

Betty sighed. "Young people," she muttered, shaking her head. "It's nice he and his roommate are getting along so well though." 

"Roommate." Harold, who had been standing in the vestibule buttoning up his jacket, let out an incredibly inelegant snort at that. "Is _that_ what they're calling it these days?"

"Harold Michaels, you explain what you mean by that right this minute."

"You better go get your eyes checked. Any fool can see those two are anything _but_ roommates." Then, as if needing to get the final word, he limped past her to push the door open and then carefully made his way down the step and to the sidewalk below. 

"Now what on earth was he on about?" she said, half to herself, half to the potted plant that lived in the corner of the lobby.

Not surprisingly, the plant didn't answer.

Betty couldn't help thinking about it though as she went about her business over the next week or so. Steve and that young man. What was his name again? Well, it didn't matter. What did matter was that once she started looking for it, she noticed how much happier Steve seemed lately. He'd always been unfailingly polite as well as kind but now when he smiled it reached his eyes in a way that made them sparkle. 

She might be an old fuddy-duddy but that didn't automatically mean she was stuck in her ways or that she didn't know about what went on in the world around her; she lived through the sixties after all. Despite what the Church preached on the subject she'd always been of the thinking that love was love and had considered it a good thing when they'd passed that marriage equality thing upstate last year, but she was a little concerned over what the other people in the building might to say about it.

"So, what do you think about Steve and young man of his?" she asked the others when their most recent hand of pinochle ended and they'd settled in for their traditional postgame round of tea and cake. 

"Who, James?" Doris asked, not even trying to hide the fact the piece she was cutting for herself was nearly twice as big as the ones she'd cut for everyone else.

James! Right, that was his name. Why she could never remember it, she'd never know. "Yes, yes, that's it. James."

"Steven's always going on and on about him. Remember that morning after all the yelling and Steven went through the building apologizing to everyone for the ruckus and explaining how poor James had been a soldier and sometimes still had rough nights and tells us all how if it were a problem they would move? As if we'd throw out a perfect gentleman like Steven just due to a little noise. We'd never stand for such a thing, would we Harold? Besides, we owe our vets and it's not like those who come home after serving these days get parades like they did back in our day. And, while I can't say I've shared more than two words with James, he seems a nice enough fellow and having him here has resulted in such a change in Steven. I've never seen him with such a spring in his step before, have you Harold? I, for one, am glad he and James have found one another. Why do you ask?" Pearl said suddenly, "Have you heard someone complaining about them?"

Betty waited a second, to make sure she was finally finished speaking, before replying, "Oh, no, I was just making conversation."

Pearl seemed to accept that and continued almost immediately, "Well, good, because if I hear about anyone saying an unkind word about those two you let me know so I can go and give them a piece of my mind! We can't have anyone ganging up on those boys, can we? We wouldn't want them to think they weren't welcome here, would we? It just wouldn't be right, nice young men like that. It would be a damn shame."

"It would, indeed." For Harold that was an endorsement of epic proportions. Pearl's Harold, unlike 3c's Harold, was never one for speaking up or offering his opinion on anything. Betty sometimes, rather uncharitably, wondered if that was the true secret behind their fifty three year marriage, not whatever 'true love' kind of story Pearl tried to have others believe.

"I think they make a cute couple." Miriam's face flushed. "And so handsome. Both of them. Thinking of them together…. Oh my."

"Oh my indeed," Doris agreed and mimed fanning herself. Betty and Pearl grinned and began fanning themselves too. Harold sputtered indignantly at their actions but then all four of them burst out laughing.

Betty relaxed and accepted another slice of cake. It looked like 3c's Harold been right about Steve and that roommate of his, but her fears had been for naught. If her pinochle group was anything like the rest of the building, those two had nothing to worry about.


End file.
